Category: Fanart

This painting was definitely an experience, and I’m so happy that I was able to finish it!

I was inspired to paint Sylphrena after reading Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer, which is the 3rd installment of his Stormlight Archive series. (Seriously, so good. Read it!) I did the initial sketch and fell in love. I -needed- to paint this. It needed to be good.

She seemed so perfect! Coloring her, however, revealed some inherent problems with the composition. It’s something that seemed un-fixable. In the image above, you can see that it is very divided. Each section of the drawing goes in a straight line horizontally and really breaks up the picture. I wasn’t sure that anything could be done at this point (I’d gotten pretty far into painting) without starting over.

I was extra bummed, because this was my first time using a new technique to create a color palette. I’ve always struggled with colors, and this video made everything seem so easy and clear:

So what next? I headed to a new group I joined on Facebook and to Tumblr, and asked for help. I didn’t expect to get so much. Some strangers even went so far as to paint examples of what they were talking about. It was pretty heart-warming! I was not expecting so much help.

What a difference in composition and color- all without changing the actual painting itself. You can see between the storm and trees that instead of a harsh cut off, the color gradients into the distance, adding some much-needed depth to the painting. My original piece was a little too purple, and some color tweaks followed by some hardcore detailing turn what felt like a recycle-bin practice piece into something finished.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help, guys. We all need it to grow!

As always, I paint for tips! If you enjoy my work, please consider supporting me on Ko-fi:

It was a slower week in art- partially because I took some extra time on one of my drawings and partially because I was uninspired for the last couple of days. What inspiration I did have, however, stemmed again from Brandon Sanderson’s writing.

A Boon, A Curse

Based on a seen from Oathbringer. I will refrain from explaining too thoroughly to avoid spoilers. Either way, I was happy with the outcome here. It had been a while since I’d worked with lines.

Flower of Idris

Sitting quietly, looking out the carriage of her window, Siri realized something intimidating: her people had no idea what it meant to be ostentatious. Flowers weren’t ostentatious. Ten soldiers protecting a carriage was not ostentatious. Crying in public wasn’t ostentatious.

Some hand practice while reading Warbreaker, inspired by the early chapters of the novel. I’m about half way through and am really enjoying it so far.

I did have a couple of other rough sketches, but not anything that I’d like to share. Maybe some other time when I’m feeling silly.
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As always, I work for tips! If you’d like to support me, please consider donating to my Ko-fi:

Starting a couple of days ago, I decided to start drawing and painting daily- even if it’s only a little bit. I won’t always share what I do, but sometimes I’ll compile little posts like this.

Conservatory Vigilant- inspired by a little art expedition through Mac’Aree in World of Warcraft

Void Elf Portrait

The time I’ll take for these will vary, but my rule is that it can’t take over a day. My most recent featured painting of Jaina Proudmoore took me two months, and while I enjoyed the detail work, I really want to learn to up the quality and lower the time it takes to produce. I think the best way to do that is practice. I’m hoping that as I progress, the speed paints and sketches that I post will become more frequent.

My last big art piece for the year! I honestly was not sure if I would complete it in time, but I was blessed with a very focused day today.

I started this painting back in early November, soon after Blizzcon. Everyone was so excited about the World of Warcraft expansion, and I was really inspired! It didn’t take long for the inspiration to fall off though, and I found myself taking long breaks in between drawing sessions. I picked it back up this week and wrapped things up.

The longest part of this piece was definitely the values, and I still feel like some of them are still off. Most of this was colored by gradient mapping, another technique I will be continuing to practice. Finish off with some color dodge a la Ross Tran, and we’ve got a finished painting!

A fitting finish to 2017 that I am proud of. I think it shows a steady improvement over 2016’s work, and it inspires me to push forward.

As will be the norm for a while, I will be working for tips. Everything is appreciated!

It’s time for a new art series! I’m playing my way through the game, and will pick up inspiration to paint along the way. I intend to do a full play-through, picking up all of the quests that I’d usually ignore along the way.

I tried some brand new techniques for this painting after watching a few videos. I did a grayscale painting, trying to learn to paint with only values. Then, I colored the piece using a gradient map. This was the result:

There is no hope. Only Vanessa. –World of Warcraft’s Vanessa VanCleef

If you want to see the guide I followed, check it out here:

Brushboost also did a subsequent video on gradient maps. It is going to be such a time-saver with practice! There is still brushwork to be done over the top, but just getting your color palette right from the get-go is so much help.

Blizzard Entertainment is running an official art contest through the 30th- Shadows of Argus.

The goal for my work going forward is to keep heavy focus on detailed line work while learning to create strong color palettes that work together without getting dull or muddy.

Here is the completed piece:

Light Against Legion

Turalyon and Alleria face off in their own ways against several of the Legions lesser demons, and the much more familiar Eredar. Alleria keeps her distance atop the newly reforged Vindicaar- but Turalyon prefers to face his foes in close combat on the battlefield.

There are far too many foes to face alone! Luckily there are many seasoned champions to aid in the last battle for Argus.

I’ve been playing the latest WoW patch, and it’s been a lot of fun. There’s not too much content yet, but I like what I see so far. Apparently they’re spreading bits and pieces out to get everyone up to speed.

That being said, I love this character!

Looking forward to getting more play time in, but might also get some color work done. Can’t very well pass up that fel glow green.